162 THE CRASSULA FAMILY. 
9. S. rupestre, Linn. (fig. 369). Rock S.—Stock perennial and 
creeping, with numerous short barren shoots, 1 to 8 inches long; the 
terminal flowering stems ascending or erect, 6 inches to a foot high. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, flattened, and more or less extended 
at the base below their point of insertion into a short spur. Flowers 
yellow, considerably larger than in the other British species, forming 
a terminal cyme of 4 or 5 to 7 or 8 recurved branches, each bearing 
from 3 to 5 or 6 sessile flowers. Sepals short and ovate; the petals 
twice as long, and linear. 
On old walls and stony places, in temperate and southern Europe, 
extending northwards to southern Sweden, In Britain, it is un- 
doubtedly wild in several of the southern and western counties of 
England, Wales, and in Ireland, but has besides established itself in 
many places where it has escaped from cultivation. Fl. summer. A 
slight variety has been distinguished under the name of S. Forsterianum, 
Sm., but the characters assigned, derived chiefly from the more or less | 
crowded, closely appressed or spreading leaves of the barren shoots, 
are very difficult to appreciate, and appear to depend more on station 
than on any real difference in the plants. 
[10. S. reflexum, Linn. (fig. 370). Reflewed-leaved S.—Very near 
S. rupestre, but usually larger, with crowded cylindric leaves ending in 
a subulate tip, and larger pedicelled often bracteate flowers. 
On rocks and housetops in northern and middle Europe, extending 
sparingly to England, Wales, and Ireland, but often an escape or relic of 
cultivation, especially a garden form which has reflexed ereen leaves on 
the flowering shoots ; whilst the truly wild form, S. glaucum, Sm., found 
in Suffolk and Devon, has glabrous leaves, erect or spreading, and paler 
flowers. | 
IV. SEMPERVIVUM. HOUSELEEK. 
’ Succulent herbs, with a perennial, often woody stock, usually larger and 
coarser than the Sedums ; the thick, succulent leaves densely imbricated 
on the short, often globular, barren shoots, and scattered along the erect 
flowering stems. Inflorescence and flowers as in Sedum, except that 
the parts of the flower are much more numerous, the sepals, petals, and 
carpels varying from 6 to 20 (usually 10 to 12). Stamens twice as many, 
but one half occasionally abortive and very small, or sometimes trans- 
formed into extra carpels. The little scales placed under the carpels 
are toothed or jagged, or sometimes wanting. 
Besides the common one, there are a few allied specimens in central 
and southern Europe, some half-shrubby ones in the Canary Islands, and 
several in south-western Africa. Some of these have long been in culti- 
eae among our garden succulent plants. 
. S.tectorum, Linn. (fig. 371). Houseleek.—The barren shoots form 
ae almost globular tufts, from whence, in subsequent years, arise 
the stout, succulent flowering stems to the height of about a foot. 
Leaves very thick and fleshy ; the lower ones 1 to 14 inches long, ending 
in a-short point, and bordered by a line of short, stiff hairs ; the upper 
ones as well as the cymes more or less clothed with a short, viscid down. 
Flowers pink, sessile along the spreading or recurved branches of the 
cyme. . Petals linear, pointed, 2 or 3 times as long as the sepals, downy 
on the outside, and ciliate on the edges, like the leaves, 
